Former Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson has described the contentious sales of Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven to Celtic as the biggest regret of his tenure at Tannadice.
The duo, who were pivotal to a Terrors side due to face the Hoops in the League Cup final a month later, were sold on transfer deadline day in 2015 for a combined fee totalling more than £2 million.
During an appearance on BBC’s Off the Ball programme, Thompson stated that the decision was made to plug an impending £500,000 gap in United’s budget.
But he now laments the controversial call, insisting it caused irreparable damage to his relationship with fans.
The Tangerines were left with no time to properly replace the pair, lost 2-0 to Celtic in the Hampden showpiece and were relegated 18 months later, with many supporters tracking the start of the malaise back to the business done in that window.
Thompson: There was a ‘hole’ in cash flow
“We were going into a cup final, but the problem was that we had a hole in the cash flow of £400,000 to £500,000 coming up six weeks later,” explained Thompson.
“That’s the reason we did it.
“Do I regret it? It’s probably the one thing I do regret, because we had a good chance against Celtic in the final and we didn’t (win it).
“That’s where things changed for me with the fans, and it’s never been the same since.”
He added: “The players can say what they want publicly but they were being offered eight times the salary; they were going to go.”
McGinn and Irvine overlooked
However, Thompson believes it was the summer of 2015 that “defined” United’s eventual relegation, including the decision not to sign John McGinn or eventual Australia star Jackson Irvine.
Instead, Rodney Sneijder arrived. He lasted a matter of weeks in Tayside.
While praising ex-United boss Jackie McNamara for playing the best football of any manager under his watch, Thompson places the blame for those huge transfer calls squarely at his door.
He continued: “I was sitting in a hotel with Peter Lawwell and Gordon Strachan, and I got a call from a guy who works for me saying we had an offer of £60,000 in for John McGinn and do we want to up the bid?
“I said, “to what? About £150,000?”
“But I needed to phone the manager. I told the manager, and he said no, we didn’t want him anymore. So, I didn’t up the bid.
“At the same meeting, Peter Lawwell said we could have Jackson Irvine for a 30% sell-on and, again, I phoned up and it was, “no, we don’t want him”. This is the summer before we got relegated, and Jackson Irvine is the captain of Australia now.
“There were a lot of decisions that happened that summer that defined us getting relegated that season.”
Manager cut ‘very common’ outside Scotland
Quizzed on suggestions that McNamara profited from the departure of United players, Thompson added: “That’s common in England; very common in England.”
During the extended interview, Thompson announced that he has filed for bankruptcy and is seeking to return to football.
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